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1Planning Performance Framework

westlothian.gov.uk

PLANNING PerformANce frAmeWorK 5

annual report 2015 - 2016

West Lothian Council Planning Services

5PPf

2 Planning Performance Framework

cont

ents

1 Introduction 3

2 Planning Services in West Lothian 3

3 The year in profile 4

4 The Performance Markers Report 7

5 Planning Services : Service Delivery 10

6 PART 1 National Headline Indicators 11

7 PART 2 Defining and measuring a high quality planning service 14

(i) Quality of Outcomes 14

(ii) Quality of Service and Engagement 17

(iii) Governance 23

(iv) Culture of continuous improvement 25

8 PART 3 Supporting evidence 26

9 PART 4 Service improvements 27

10 PART 5 Official statistics 2015-16 28

11 PART 6 Workforce and financial information 30

CDA housing Calderwood

Data label: Official5PPf


1 Introduction1.0.1 The format of this year’s PPF focuses on the 15 Performance Markers prescribed in the template for PPF5 and once again augments this with the council’s response to the Scottish Government’s Feedback Report and the Performance Markers Report of 5 October 2015.

1.0.2 In particular the steps taken by the council in 2015 - 2016 to address priority areas for improvement are summarised in section 4 and referenced and evidenced throughout PPF5; the alignment of the council to comments made in the Feedback Report including case studies are described in the commentary to each individual heading in Part 2 of PPF5.

1.0.3 West Lothian is the 10th largest local authority area in Scotland with a land area of 432 sq. km. The council continues to be one of the fastest growing in Scotland with a current estimated population of 178,550, predicted to grow to 205,345 by 2035. Between 2000 and 2014 it was the third fastest growing local authority in Scotland.

1.0.4 Ranging from the wilder land of the Pentland Hills to the shores of the Firth of Forth, the area embraces Livingston new town, former mining settlements, conservation areas and the emerging towns in the core development areas.

1.0.5 West Lothian Council’s performance markers report for 2014 - 2015 comprised two ‘red’ ratings, seven ‘amber’ ratings and four ‘green’ ratings.

1.0.6 PPF5 will demonstrate that the council has addressed each ‘red’ rating and concurrently has achieved continuous improvement in each of the other markers.

1.0.7 Specifically, the council’s enforcement charter has been updated; the successor local plan, the West Lothian Local Development Plan, is approved by the council executive and will be subject to formal examination later this year; and the Development Plan Scheme is being implemented.

PLANNING PERFORMANCE FRAMEWORk 5

2 Planning Services in West Lothian2.1 In West Lothian the council’s statutory planning function is delivered through the council’s Planning, Economic Development and Community Regeneration Service. The council works in partnership with strategic planning partners through SESplan, the strategic planning authority for Edinburgh and the South East of Scotland, and the key agencies.

2.2 The focus of the service continues to be on outcomes which increasingly require ‘cross-service’ approaches to planning issues including integration with Environmental Health, Education Planning, Building Standards and Economic Development, and Community Planning and Regeneration.

2.3 There are currently seven chartered planners employed in the council’s Development Planning team and eight chartered planners in the Development Management team. In addition Planning Services has access to a shared administrative support service and a technical support service.

2.4 Located in the central belt of Scotland, West Lothian continues to play a vital role in delivering economic prosperity to the region and in Scotland as a whole. The district benefits from being strategically located on the key transportation links between Edinburgh and Glasgow and is in close proximity to Edinburgh airport.


3 The year in profile3.1 West Lothian has benefited from a number of significant economic investment initiatives in the recent past. Residential development is continuing at the core development areas (CDA’s) of Winchburgh, Armadale and Calderwood and consent has been issued for residential development as the first part of the west Livingston CDA. At Heartlands, Whitburn, residential development continues. The council has now commenced or completed 499 residential units as part of its 1000 houses project.

3.2 House completions in West Lothian in 2015 were at their second highest since 2007, as is illustrated in the following table. West Lothian had the 7th highest number of completions in Scotland in 2015.

3.3 The council validated 943 planning etc. applications in 2015/2016, an modest decrease of 26 from 2014/15.

3.4 Against a background of budgetary constraints, as set out in section 11 of PPF5, the council is continually improving its performance and betters the national Scottish average in key performance measures. Specifically, when compared with all other planning authorities in Scotland, as set out in the most recent available statistics for the whole of 2015-2016, and published by the Scottish Government in July 2016, the following conclusions for 2015/16 can be drawn:

The council, together with another 8 local authorities, did not have any processing agreements.

The council has the 5th highest proportion of major applications, nationally.

The council has the 5th equal highest number of applications in the country with legal agreements.

The council has the 2nd fastest average time for householder applications in Scotland, at 5.7 weeks, the Scottish average being 7.5 weeks

The council is the 2nd equal quickest local authority to issue a decision on

applications subject to Local Review Body (LRB) procedure, with 66.7% of the original appointed person’s decisions being upheld.

Number of validated planning applications

0 200 400 600 800 1000

2014- 2015

2015 - 2016

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 20150

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

Number of house completion

Timescale for householder applications

0

2

4

6

8

10

West Lothian5.7 weeks

Scottish average

7.5 weeks

66.7% of Appointed Person’s decisions have been upheld

33.3% have been overturned


The council has increased the percentage of all applications delegated from 93.9% in 2014/15 to 95.0% in 2015/16, 0.1% above the Scottish average.

The council has reduced the time periods for determining local non-householder applications from 11.9 weeks to 11.7 weeks.

The council has served 49 enforcement notices which is the highest number across the country with the second highest local authority having served 34 notices.

The council remains consistent in the speed of determination of local business and industry applications of 8.1 weeks, when the Scottish average is 10.4 weeks.

The council has reduced the time periods for determining all local applications from 8.8 weeks to 8.7 weeks.

The council remains ahead of the Scottish average for the determination of advertisements consents, listed building consents, AMSC’s, telecoms proposals and electricity generation proposals.

3.5 Planning fees received by West Lothian Council in 2015/16 have seen a 2.2% reduction compared with 2014/15 from £912,506 to £892,594. This is still a substantial increase in fees received compared with 2013/2014 of £638,305.

3.6 In 2015-16 some £2.5m was received by the council in payments committed in planning obligations. This finance will be used towards the provision of essential infrastructure. Additionally in the year 2015-2016 the planning services negotiated planning obligations to the value of a further £3.1m.

3.7 Work continues with the completion of the West Lothian Local Development Plan. The was subject to consultation in the autumn of 2015 and attracted around 728 representations. The representations have given rise to 190 issues, principally related to proposed site allocations, the spatial strategy and housing land requirements. These issues, and the council’s proposed response were reported to the Council Executive on 29 June 2016 and the LDP is now progressing towards submission for Examination.

0 20 40 60 80 100

Precentage of delegated applications

2014 - 2015

2015 - 2016

Determining local non-household applications

0

3

6

9

12

15

2014 - 201511.9 weeks

2015 - 201611.7 weeks

Determining of local business and industry applications

0

3

6

9

12

15


Scottish average

10.4 weeks

Precentage of all applications approved

0 20 40 60 80 100

2014 - 2015

2015 - 2016

Planning fees received

0 200000 400000 600000 800000 1000000

2013 - 2014

2014 - 2015

2015 - 2016


3.8 During 2015/2016 there has been a continual increase in development on the ground in West Lothian. Planning permission has been issued for 984 new residential units. Continuing development is taking place in the three core development areas at Winchburgh, Armadale and Calderwood where overall 315, 200 and 159 houses have been completed, compared with, overall, 150, 200 and 120 respectively in the previous year.

3.9 At Armadale CDA a new restaurant/public house complex has opened and pre-application discussions took place for the development of a major warehouse development which unfortunately did not result in an application being submitted. Work continued on the construction of a new primary school in 2016.

3.10 At Winchburgh five housebuilders are now on site, and a further two are about to commence. Following consent being granted for the first phase of the new Winchburgh town centre, comprising seven commercial units and a town square, due to a delay caused by infrastructure issues, construction is now due to commence later in 2016. A new bus service expansion has been fully funded by the developer and is now in operation.

3.11 The Heartlands site at Whitburn has been sold to new owners who are discussing future aspirations for the ongoing development of the existing site.

3.12 At the former Vion meat processing site in Broxburn the council is minded to grant planning permission for the development of 190 houses on this application. Planning Services negotiated a total of £2.34m of finance for essential infrastructure from this brown field site. Development has commenced on a 49 house development on a brownfield site at the former Mid Calder paper mill and some 100 houses are under construction at the brownfield Buchanan House site in Livingston.

3.13 In 2015/2016 a significant element of Planning Services’ resources were taken up defending at appeal the council’s development plan position on major housing proposals at Main Street, Dechmont and Brotherton, Livingston. The council continued consideration of multiple applications for the redevelopment of Bangour Village Hospital in February 2016, resulting in six appeals against non-determination being lodged. The range of appeals includes two high hedge notice appeals and a windfarm at Camility Planation, Harburn.

Housing at Winchburgh Pond

Completed residential units

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

2014 - 2015

2015 - 2016

2014 - 2015

2015 - 2016

2014 - 2015

2015 - 2016

Winchburgh

Armadale

Calderwood


4 The Performance Markers ReportThe following is a summary of the council’s response to the Performance Markers Report of October 2015.

Performance Marker 1: Decision Making

Statistics set out in section 3 and Part 5 ‘Official Statistics’ illustrate the council is continuously performing above the Scottish average and confirms a further reduction in average timescales for determining most categories of planning applications.

Performance Marker 2: Project Management

The council continues to offer processing agreements for all major planning applications, although none have been requested during the reporting period.

However all applications are now subject to a project plan, details of which were included in the SPG on Processing Planning Applications. Whilst this has proven to be a very useful internal document, particularly in tracking cases where the ‘clock’ has been stopped, customer feedback has revealed that customers are not aware of the SPG and the project plan. This was identified as an area for improvement and the SPG is currently being redrafted. In addition, considerable work is being carried out on the project plan template as part of a Rapid Improvement Event. The resulting new process was implemented on 4 July 2016 and allows for tracking and monitoring of stages within the processing of an application, plus improved, more consistent engagement with customers at key stages.

The results will be reported in PPF6.

Performance Marker 3: Early collaboration with applicants

Because of necessary budgetary savings pre-application discussions were unable to be offered to customers during 2015-2016. Instead, the council’s website has been updated to help customers to access information and regular dialogue has taken place with staff in the customer contact centre to ensure that they are able to direct customers to the appropriate information. However, feedback has identified that a pre-application service was still something that our customers would appreciate and so a revised service has been developed following benchmarking with other authorities and discussions with regular customers.

This new service, which is a ‘paid for’ service, attracts a fee reflecting the scale and complexity of the proposal. It introduces a more formal approach to handling such enquiries, with set time scales and a pro forma response. All pre-application enquiries will be logged on our database so that they can easily be referred to when an application is submitted. The service will be reviewed after a six month period to identify any opportunities for further improvement.

In addition, on large scale projects such as the CDA developments, regular site progress meetings and community liaison groups provide the opportunity for early engagement and identification of any issues that will need to be addressed. As set out above, the SPG on processing planning applications is being relaunched to provide more clarity to all customers on supporting information requirements.

Officers continue to be flexible in their request for supporting information and aim to identify such requirements at an early stage in the process, prior to the application being submitted where possible.


Performance Marker 4: Legal Agreements

Over 2015-16, the council has continued to work to reduce the time taken to finalise planning obligations (Annex n).

During that period, there were 26 planning obligations which were still to be concluded. Of those, five draft documents were issued, a further six were awaiting signature, four required further work from the applicant and three were in the process of negotiation or required the applicant’s solicitor to respond.

Performance Marker 5: Enforcement Charter

The council’s enforcement charter has been reviewed and was published in September 2014. It will be reviewed again in September 2016.

Performance Marker 6: Continuous Improvement

As set out in section 3 and Part 5 ‘Official Statistics’ the council continues to show a significant improvement in relation to the great majority of PPF National Headline Indicators and is continuing to achieve the improvement commitments that were identified in the earlier PPF4.

The steps taken to implement service commitments identified in the previous PPF4 are set out in Part 8 of this PPF.

The council received a commendation at the Quality in Planning Awards 2015 for its supplementary guidance Planning for Nature prepared in partnership with Scottish Natural Heritage.

Performance Marker 7: Age of the local plan

The LDP Proposed Plan was published in October 2015 for consultation. All 728 submissions have been made available on the council’s Proposed Plan represetations web page. The submissions have been assessed, grouped by issue and the council’s response to these reported to the Council Executive in June 2016. The council’s response, set out in Schedule 4 templates, is now being progressed to Examination with anticipated submission over the summer of 2016. The council continues to publish the LDP newsletter to keep interested parties up to date.

Performance Marker 8: Development Plan Scheme

Development Plan Scheme 8 (DPS No.8) for the West Lothian Local Development Plan was approved by the Council Executive on 1 March 2016 and subsequently forwarded to Scottish Government.

Performance Marker 9: Engagement of elected members

The LDP Proposed Plan was published in October 2015 for consultation following a series of member briefing sessions with all elected members. The briefing sessions continued following consideration of representations received to the Proposed Plan and prior to their reporting to the Council Executive.

for NaturePlanning

http://www.westlothian.gov.uk/PPrepresentations


http://www.westlothian.gov.uk/media/2400/West-Lothian-Local-Development-Plan-Scheme-No8/pdf/DPS_No8-March2016.pdf


Performance Marker 10: Engagement of stakeholderskey agencies and local members are in dialogue with the council to inform preparation of the Local Development Plan (Annex a).

A further round of supplementary guidance in relation minerals, the green network, noise and an updated Residential Design Guide were approved by the council’s Development and Transport Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel in October 2015 for consultation. A priority list for review of education supplementary guidance has been prepared and is being progressed. The Planning for Nature SG was commended at the Quality Awards in Planning by the Scottish Government (Annex b).

Performance Marker 11: ProportionalityThe council strives to be proportionate in the amount of information requested and continues to limit such requests. For example in 2015/2016 the council received 11 major applications. Of these, only one major application required to be accompanied by an environmental impact statement.

Southdale Primary School, Armadale

The council made no requests for either retail impact assessments, drainage impact assessments, traffic impact assessments, or air quality assessments.

Performance Marker 12: Corporate workingCase Studies are set out in the Annex to this PPF which continue to show corporate working across services (Annex c).

Performance Marker 13: Sharing good practiceThe council now regularly participates in meetings within its benchmarking family (Annex d). The council works closely with adjoining councils in matters relating to onshore wind and the Queensferry Crossing and its SESplan partners in the preparation of the Strategic Development Plan.

Performance Marker 14: Legacy casesFurther progress has been made is disposing of legacy cases as set out in Annex (e).

Performance Marker 15The council publicises the requisite developer contributions in a clear and concise manner on its website.


5 Planning Services: Service Delivery5.1 All service teams in the service group have a role in increasing sustainable economic activity in West Lothian. This is delivered by the work of the Economic Development team and Planning Services who are focused on creating a supportive environment for increasing economic output, whilst maintaining and regulating protection for customers and the environment.

5.2 The activity budget information set out in the body of the Management Plan Annex (f ) details the full range of activities in the service.

5.3 Following the action points from PPF4, achievements of Planning Services 2015/2016 in the context of PPF5, include:

Completing consultation on the LDP Proposed Plan;

Continued revision of a planning obligations tracking system;

Continued disposal of legacy cases;

Inter departmental team working on the delivery of 1000 social rented houses;

Fauldhouse town centre charrette;

Continued cooperation with Police Scotland on enforcement cases;

Ongoing collaborative inter agency working on Network Rail improvements at Shotts Line and Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme;

Ongoing working to facilitate integrated waste management at Levenseat, Fauldhouse;

Continued community council planning training;

Completion of a distributor road at Drumshoreland financed through the local infrastructure fund;

Forging a new working relationship with the new owners of the Heartlands regeneration scheme;

Completion of restructuring Planning & Economic Development

Montiring the impacts of transerring calls to the Customer Service Centre

Using project plans for all applications.

Leveseat, Fauldhouse


6 Part 1: National Headline IndicatorsKey outcomes 2015-2016 2014-2015

Development Planning

Age of local/strategic development plan(s) (full years): requirement: less than five years

seven years and eight months

six years and eight months

Will the local/strategic development plan(s) be replaced by their 5th anniversary according to the current development plan scheme? (Y/N) No No

Has the expected date of submission of the plan to Scottish Ministers in the development plan scheme changed over the past year? (Y-earlier / Y-later / N)

Yes Yes

Were development plan scheme engagement / consultation commitments met during the year? (Y/N) Yes Yes

Effective Land Supply and Delivery of Outputs

Effective housing land: years supplysee explanatory

notesee explanatory

noteEffective housing land supply

Housing approvals

Effective employment land supply 206 haEmployment land take-up in progress in progress

Development management

Project Planning

Percentage of applications subject to pre-application advice 26.69% 19.9%

Number of major applications subject to processing agreement or other project plan 0 0

Percentage planned timescales met n/a n/a

Decision-making

Application approval rate 91.3% 93.8%

Delegation rate 95% 93.9%

Decision-making timescales

Average number of weeks to decision:

Major developments 67.1 48.2

Local developments (non-householder) 11.3 11.9

householder developments 5.7 5

Legacy cases

Number cleared during reporting period 27 89

Number remaining 28 92

enforcement

Time since enforcement charter published/ reviewed (months): requirement: review every two years 1 year, 10 months 10 months

Number of breaches identified / resolved 223/188 137/202

Explanatory Note: Housing Land Supply

The provision of housing land is a key commitment of the West Lothian Local Development Plan.

In the context of the preparation of the West Lothian Local Development Plan, and in order to provide the most up-to- date figures as required in the template for PPF, the council has prepared the following comprehensive Position Statement.

The Position Statement concludes that there is an effective five year housing land supply.

http://coins.westlothian.gov.uk/coins/submissiondocuments.asp?submissionid=31428 (Annex o)


Further context to National Headline Indicators

The current West Lothian Local Plan is more than five years old and brings with it the likelihood of the frequency of appeal challenges and “call ins” increasing over time. In 2015 a significant element of Planning Services’ resources were taken up defending at appeal the council’s development plan position on major housing proposals at Brotherton Farm, Livingston and Main Street Dechmont. The final outcome of the Brotherton appeal is not known at the time of writing, despite having been lodged in June 2015, and the Dechmont appeal is one of those embraced by a decision announced by Scottish Government in March 2016 to call in appeals for ministerial determination for proposals of more than 100 units.

In 2012 annual house completions fell to an historic low of 229 but as economic conditions have improved they have steadily risen year on year. During the twelve month period in 2015 completions increased to 775 compared with 615 in the previous year.

Taking each other section in turn, 26% of planning applications determined in 2015/16 have been subject to pre application advice. Much of this is of an informal nature by way of exchange of e-mails prior to a submission. The council has recognised however that in a time of financial constraint, the provision of free pre application advice, quite often to agents who make regular planning applications, can deflect officers away from processing planning applications where the applicant expects a timeous outcome. The council has recently introduced a formal pre-application advice service and the impact of this change will be evaluated in PPF6.

Annual housing completions

0

200

400

600

800

1000

2014 2015

Calderwood, Easter Calder


This confirms an ongoing commitment of staff to process applications expeditiously but being mindful of the quality of development and the potential impact on neighbours and the environment.

Because of the small statistical sample ’major’ applications tend to fluctuate to a greater degree as can be seen from the table. This is due to smaller numbers of applications and potentially more complex matters which due to their nature naturally take longer to conclude. Two major applications took a lengthy time to determine, unatributable to actions by the council, and have increased average times in this category.

The council substantially increased its disposal of legacy cases by writing to applicants requesting these cases be withdrawn. Only a small number responded either agreeing the application could be withdrawn or requesting a decision. There will be a further progress during 2016/17 to conclude matters with the remaining outstanding cases (Annex e).

Approval rates

0

20

40

60

80

100

West Lothian91.3%

Scottish average93.8%

West Lothian

95%

Scottish average94.9%

Rate of Approval Rate of Delegation

There continues to be little, if any, appetite by the development industry for processing agreements within West Lothian despite their availability being publicised on the council’s website; none of the applicants who submitted major applications have wished to pursue this.

Both the rates of approval and delegation remain high. The council’s approval rate of 91.3% is just below the Scottish average of 93.8% in 2015/16 the rate of delegation at 95% broadly comparable with the Scottish average of around 94.9%.

In terms of decision making timescales, local and householder developments remain de facto consistent, with householder applications continuing to remain under the Scottish average in timescale and local applications broadly similar.

The council has the 2nd fastest average time or householder applications in Scotland, at 5.7

weeks, the Scottish average being 7.5 weeks.

Timescale for householder applications

0

2

4

6

8

10


Scottish average

7.5 weeks

Linburn, Wilkieston


7 Part 2: Defining and measuring a high quality planning service

Easter Inch Moss, Blackburn

i) QUALITY OF OUTCOMES

High quality development on the ground

7.1 In balancing the need for sustainable economic growth Planning Services has a threefold approach to the quality of development on the ground. Proactive enforcement is used to mitigate the harmful effects of unauthorised development, planning decisions include an emphasis on high quality design and pre-application discussions include a strong emphasis on quality of development, prior to the submission of an application.

7.2 The redrafted ‘Residential Design Guide’ has been enacted throughout 2015-2016 leading to enhanced design outcomes for the many householder applications that the council determines. Some 302 (40%) of householder applications have been subject to negotiated design improvements in 2015/16. This includes encouraging and implementing sustainable materials and increasing biodiversity and successfully amending applications to address objectors’ concerns. This is illustrated in Annex (g).

7.3 The council’s website has publicises it’s wish to run a design award but there was no uptake of this in 2015 -16 from applicants.

7.4 Nevertheless successful outcomes have been achieved on the ground, including new housing and a steading conversion at Glendevon Pond, Winchburgh, further specialist needs housing at Wilkiestson war-blind facility, and infill units that form part of the council’s own 1000 houses roll-out. The continued development of Calderwood CDA is seeing novel residential architecture being constructed, with a high quality use of novel building materials and styles being implemented by volume house builders (Annex h).

7.5 Breaches of planning control can have a negative impact on the quality of the environment and on amenity and the council continues to be proactive in issuing enforcement etc. notices. The Planning Services continues to work with Police Scotland: enforcement staff have regular meetings with Police Intelligence, to share knowledge of common concerns. In such cases, we inform Police Scotland of any formal notices, and any contact. The council has worked with SEPA to aid the resolution of unauthorised development at Woodened Colliery where in 2015 SEPA successfully pursued the largest environmental fine ever issued in Scotland.


7.6 Against this background of the council received a commendation at the Quality in Planning Awards 2015 for its supplementary guidance “Planning for Nature” prepared in partnership with Scottish Natural Heritage (Annex b).

7.7 The council has been especially active in the successful implementation of environmental projects in 2015/16 relating to:

The continued action related to peat restoration projects at Easter Inch Moss between Blackburn and Seafield and at Black Moss at Armadale involving the local management groups. An award has been submitted to RSPB for the long service of the Easter Inch Moss Local Management Group and we await the decision (Annex i);

The preparation and approval by the council of Supplementary Guidance on Green Network that includes Local Biodiversity Sites and Geodiversity Sites that will undergo public consultation in Autumn 2016;

Instigating detailed survey work by Lothians & Fife Green Network Partnership to the south of West Calder to identify opportunities for green network improvements over a wide area of linked land uses covering lowland crofts, open cast restoration, new forestry commission woodland planting and wind farms;

Participation in a major Linlithgow Loch summit called to try and resolve the complex biodiversity issues associated with the Loch catchment and identifying related improvement projects and co-ordinating their implementation;

Partnership working with River Forth Fishery Trust on major realignment and improvements to large urban section of Bathgate Water;

The revision of the Harperrig Reservoir Habitat Management Plan and securing funding (£25k) for the upgrading to the west car park that was progressed via kirknewton Community Development Trust;

Contributing to the revision of the 10 year Pentland Hills Regional Park Management Plan and discussions to extend the regional park at Holyrood, that were subsequently abandoned by an MSP;

The re-signing of a declaration between West Lothian Council and Central Scotland Green Network (CSGN) whereby this second concordat stresses that both organisations will work closely along with Scottish Government to realise the vision of a major step change in the environment of the central belt over the next 40 years;

The review of all 13 lowland crofting sites with assistance from Scottish Natural Heritage, Central Scotland Green Network and Lothians & Fife Green Network Partnership to establish the maintenance issues for existing woodland and access routes but also where there are additional opportunities for green network improvements;

As part of the process to prepare the West Lothian Local Development Plan (LDP), the Habitat Regulation Appraisal was updated along with the Strategic Environmental Assessment of a number of new sites;

Supplementary Guidance: Planning for Nature – Development Management & Wildlife, prepared in conjunction the Scottish Natural Heritage was commended in the Scottish Government Quality Awards in Planning in November 2015;

Work on environmental initiatives arising from the Whitburn Charrette (public consultation) process e.g. “South Whitburn green corridor” and more recently, the similar “Fauldhouse in Focus” event.

7.8 In 2015/16 the council has seen a number of large scale developments continue on site, including several housing developments in the CDAs. These have been made possible by the council’s ‘open for business’ approach but also reflect our commitment to securing high quality development.


7.9 The council is committed to building 1000 social rented houses by April 2017. This is the largest programme of public sector housing in Scotland. Planning permission was granted for 18 sites in 2015/2016, allowing 730 units to be built and 499 units at seven sites are now under construction. This is being achieved by the development of individual sites within each of the council’s wards.

7.10 In order to assist the interface between housebuilding and planning regulation key working groups continue to be attended by development management officers throughout the process. Annex (c) is an example of change brought about to the design of schemes as a consequence of the involvement of development management. Regular liaison continued throughout 2015/2016 between Development Management, Transportation and Housing colleagues to ensure that the design of these new schemes reflects best practice in terms of residential design.

7.11 Again, to improve the quality of the West Lothian environment, the council is continuing to implement a sustained approach to unauthorised roadside advertising and poor quality urban realm spaces across West Lothian.

7.12 Progress meetings and liaison committees have also proved useful in ensuring high quality development on the ground, for example allowing discussions over compliance with conditions and agreeing finishing materials and landscaping proposals, which can make a significant difference to the quality of a finished

development. Regular liaison committees have been held at Rusha Opencast Site and will continue to do so in the current, final phases of the site’s development.

7.12 The council worked closely with NHS Lothian and key agencies to promote the redevelopment of the Bangour Village Hospital without compromising the site’s architectural and historic value. Officers of the council prepared a complex case supporting the approval of planning permission for the redevelopment of the Bangour site whilst acknowledging its unique built heritage attributes; the matter was then subject to an appeal against non determination.

7.13 The council is a member of the West of Scotland Archaeology Service (WoSAS): WoSAS is a local authority shared service delivering curatorial advice to 10 councils and a National Park Authority in West and Central Scotland. The team maintain the Historic Environment Record (HER) for each member authority, and make information from it freely available to the public online. The service supports member authorities in the discharge of their responsibilities for the historic environment, which largely arise through the planning system.

7.11 In its programme of quarterly community council training, design has played a key role in order that local representatives can be more focussed on their involvement in planning matters.

7 sites for social rented housing under construction

11 sites for rented social housing with planning permission

Planning permission approved for social rented housing


ii) QUALITY OF SERVICE AND ENGAGEMENT

Open for Business

1. Economic development remains a key priority for the council. It is a principal focus of the service to promote economic growth while ensuring that development is delivered in compliance with the development plan and regulatory frameworks, and which does not compromise residential or environmental amenity.

2. In West Lothian economic conditions remain challenging, but good progress continues to be made with implementing the core development areas and strategic housing sites identified in the adopted West Lothian Local Plan. As set out in this PPF, overall the rate of house completions during the calendar year 2015 decreased slightly, at 687 compared to the 744 completed in the previous year. The council has the 7th highest number of housing completions in Scotland.

3. Growth in the housing and construction sector remains of key to economic importance throughout West Lothian. The council has identified additional funding to invest in the infrastructure required to support growth. However, while economic circumstances appear to be improving, investment still has to be balanced against risk, and managing risk will continue to be an important consideration. All parts of the service are committed to supporting existing businesses and potential investors and to minimise, as far as possible, the negative impacts created by difficulties in the wider economy. Regular meetings take place between planning staff and business advisers, and as a result, business advisers have a clear understanding of the requirements for planning permission, and are better able to advise their customers.

A potential incoming investment near Livingston has involved particularly close cooperation between Development Management and Economic Development staff, as was an earlier prospective investment in Armadale for a very large warehouse and distribution centre

4. The council continues to monitor and prioritise the determination of applications that assist with economic development, with a target of 80% of local applications being determined within two months. For the purposes of benchmarking, to date in 2015/16 85% of all SME applications have been determined within the timescale compared to 66% in 2014/15. This compares favourably with the Scottish average of 69%. Performance data over the last year shows the number of local applications submitted by SME’s which were determined within the two month period is as follows. Specifically, the month which had the best performance was March 2016 when 100% of SME applications were determined within the target. Performance over the past year has been more consistent than in previous years, ranging from 62.5% to 100%. In 2014/15, by contrast, the performance varied between 22% and 92%.

July 15 Aug 15 Sept 15 Oct 15 Nov 15 Dec 15 Jan 16 Feb 16 Mar160

20

40

60

80

100

June 15

Target 80%

Local Planning applications submitted by SMe’s determined within two months


5. The roll-out of large-scale projects, such as the CDAs, Heartlands and Pumpherston, has continued in 2015/16. Regular progress and liaison meetings are held to ensure that communication is ongoing and to allow the developers to identify their priorities. An example of this is the shortlisting of Oakbank Parkway as a potential site for the location of a major international pharmaceutical research facility. Discussions are continuing between Planning and Economic Development in order to provide an offer of a fast track determination through the planning process.

6. Details of all developer contributions are available on the council’s website. Furthermore, staff work hard with developers on projects of all scales to ensure a flexible approach to the provision of developer contributions which helps the viability of developments without compromising on council policy.

7. Partnership working is central to the delivery of many of the outcomes supported by the Planning Service. These partnerships take a variety of forms, including statutory and non-statutory arrangements. Restructuring within the council has resulted in Planning Services being placed under

the same departmental head as economic development and community regeneration services. The benefits of being part of the same structure have only just begun to be explored, but it is expected that the closer sharing of resources and knowledge will have long term benefits for business and communities in West Lothian.

8. Beyond the council, SESplan is the strategic planning authority for Edinburgh and the South East of Scotland. It is a statutory partnership of six planning authorities. The partnership has responsibility for producing the Strategic Development Plan for the area. The council contributed to the preparation of SDP2 Proposed Plan which was approved by the SESplan joint committee in June 2016 for consultation, subject to ratification by the member authorities. key agencies including Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Transport Scotland and Historic Scotland will continue to play a key role in the determination of planning applications.

Heartlands employment, Whitburn

http://www.westlothian.gov.uk/SPG-developercontributions


Certainty

Development plan preparation

7.12 The LDP Proposed Plan was published in October 2015 for consultation. All 728 submissions have been made available on the council’s webpage. The submissions have been assessed, grouped by issue and the council’s response to these reported to the Council Executive in June 2016. The council’s response, set out in Schedule 4 templates, is now being progressed to Examination with anticipated submission over the summer of 2016. The council continues to publish the LDP newsletter to keep interested parties up to date.

7.13 A clear reporting structure for the LDP has been established. A formal steering group convenes on a weekly basis with sub-groups relating to transport and affordable housing also meeting. A series of less formal ‘catch up’ meetings are also organised at regular intervals as means of informing and supporting team members.

7.14 The council has prepared draft supplementary guidance relating to noise, minerals, green network and a refreshed residential design guide. All of these are to progress to public consultation in support of the WLLDP. A programme for further SG is set out in the LDP Proposed Plan.

7.15 The LDP is a major undertaking and will continue to be the most significant element of Development Planning’s workload for at least the next 18 months. Its governance is being project managed by a designated senior officer and a bespoke work plan has been established which is regularly updated and circulated. Work packages are also frequently prepared and issued to members of the team which clearly set out the task in hand, advise on the processes to be followed, and confirm the expected timetable for completion.

7.16 Throughout 2015/16 the council made use of a variety of methods for consulting with service users and the wider community, both in relation to Development Management and Development Plans.

7.17 Preparation of the new LDP has necessitated the adoption of an extensive and varied communications and consultation programme. This has been followed up with a number of general and targeted initiatives to engage with consultees, stakeholders and the public at large and included traditional consultation methods (press notices, written and e-mail communications and public briefings).

7.18 Additionally the council has made use of social media (Facebook, Twitter etc.) to try and reach new audiences. This process is continuous and ongoing.

7.19 The council strives to be proportionate in the amount of information requested and continues to limit such requests. For example in 2015/2016 the council received 11 major applications. Of these, only one major application required to be accompanied by an environmental impact statement. The council made no requests for either retail impact assessment, drainage impact assessment, traffic impact assessments, or air quality assessment.



Engagement with the customer

7.20 West Lothian Council has long held a culture of continuous improvement, striving for excellence in customer service and encouraging staff to be involved in finding new and efficient ways to provide the service. This is evidenced in Chartermark, Investors in People and the council’s own West Lothian Assessment Model. (Annex j)

7.21 West Lothian Council has corporately put the delivery of excellent services at the heart of all its endeavours and activity. The ‘Improvement Strategy’ underpins the council’s approach to continuous improvement to raise the quality of service provision.

7.22 It aims to deliver high-performing services that meet customers’ needs and also recognises the challenge services face to balance customer-focused improvements with value for money, using quality and performance tools to drive positive change in services over the currency of the strategy.

7.23 Initially, each service sets their own improvement agenda, so long as there is compliance with the corporate requirements for quality and performance. In year one of their improvement cycle each service completed a facilitated self-assessment using the West Lothian Assessment Model (WLAM) and attended the WLAM Review Panel. The panel considered the output from the assessment process and identified the appropriate cycle the service was to adopt. Development Planning (together with Development Management) is part of Planning & Economic Development Services and the findings of the panel are set out in Annex (k).

7.24 This confirms that Planning Services is a high performing service with a robust performance management structure. A ‘light touch’ approach based on self-assessment, with scrutiny limited to performance monitoring using COVALENT, the council’s performance management system is required. This ensures that all performance indicators, actions and risks are developed to a consistent standard and up-to-date information about them is accessible.

7.25 The Planning & Economic Development Management Plan 2015-2016 (Annex f ) contains a Calendar of Improvement and Efficiency Activity for Planning Services as a whole, and this can be disaggregated into Development Planning and Development Management. The purpose of the management plan is to outline the specific activities and actions that the service intends to carry out through the year. It sets out activities and related performance measures.

7.26 In Planning Services staff are encouraged to bring forward ideas for service improvements throughout the year and matters are often brought to the weekly team meetings. Officers are involved in discussing and writing the customer service action plan in response to the annual customer survey. Officers have also been involved in responding to the feedback from last year’s Planning Performance Framework and in compiling this year’s report.

7.27 In the last 12 months staff from Development Management have been involved in benchmarking with other local authorities, particularly with other authorities in Group 3,in our benchmarking family, as set up by HOPS and the Improvement Service. This has largely focussed on key performance indicators and staff ratios, in light of the feedback from last year’s report. Further benchmarking will be carried out in relation to appeal decisions and the scheme of delegation.


7.28 The council’s development management manager continues to chair the Development Management subcommittee of Heads of Planning Scotland and shares knowledge in particular with other councils on all aspects of development management. Other members of development management have been closely involved with Fife and the City of Edinburgh Council over the Queensferry Crossing; with Pentland Hills Regional Park, South Lanarkshire and North Lanarkshire on cross border interests relating to windfarms; Development Planning staff have specific and key responsibilities for engaging with SESplan, the strategic planning authority for South East Scotland.

7.29 Community Liaison Groups continue to provide a useful tool for engaging with the public, particularly in relation to contentious applications. Such groups take place at each of the CDAs, at Heartlands and Rusha opencast mine.

7.30 Planning Services continue to be regularly represented at community council meetings and other public meetings throughout the year at Fauldhouse, Whitburn, Linlithgow, Bathgate, Broxburn, Pumpherston and Armadale. Regular attendance at these meetings is welcomed by communities and is a very useful two way process.

7.31 Community Council training has taken place on a quarterly basis during 2015/16 and is attended by over 60% of the community councils in the area.

7.32 Planning Services carried out an annual customer survey during 2015/16 and 23 responses were received from 162 surveys sent out. This resulted in a rate of response of 14%. Despite the rate of response increasing from the previous year planning services continue to be motivated to gain further valuable feedback from our customers. This year’s survey focussed on 9 themes of customer satisfaction in accordance with the corporate requirements. The scope thus embraced professionalism, staff attitude, communication, information, service accessibility, timeliness, service delivery, quality of service and service standards.

7.33 One of the areas of customers’ criticism is that it is difficult for people to contact the service by telephone. As a result of the council’s Channel Shift, the council’s website has been substantially improved to give customers easier access to development management information (Annes l). As part of this change, the decision was taken to transfer general calls to the customer advice centre, so that calls are handled and responded to in line with the council service standards.

7.34 Training and support continues to the staff handling the calls and the impact on customers will be monitored and reported in next year’s report.

7.35 In tandem the council has updated its planning website to allow stakeholders easier access to key information.

7.36 The council operates a corporate complaints procedure. In 2015-2016 fifty one (51) complaints about the planning service were received, where 43 were related to Development Management and the remaining to Building Standards. The majority of these complaints relate to the removal of duty cover and the difficulties customers faced in contacting a planning officer.


7.37 The below table provide with comparative data over the last two years in relation to number of complaints received, the percentage of complaints responded to within Service Level Agreement and percentage of part upheld and upheld complaints.

YEARTotal Number of Complaints

Received

Overall Part Upheld & Upheld

2015-16 43 15 (35%)

2014-15 30 5 (17%)

YEARNumber of complaints by reason

Policy related Poor Communication Standard of Service Waiting Time Employee Attitude

2015-16 6 20 16 6 -

2014-15 2 9 18 - 1

All customers who submitted a planning application will be asked to tell us about their experience of the new process and to help us better understand what is working well for them and what are the areas which are needing further development and improvement.

7.40 Consequent of Channel Shift, and removal of the duty service, by introducing ‘a planning enquiry service’ with a 3 working day service level agreement where a customer would call our Customer Service Centre (CSC) to log an initial enquiry, we are able to monitor the number of incoming enquiries, analyse the data and use it for further improvements.

7.43 Planning Services officers provide training sessions for CSC staff to support them in expanding their knowledge of Planning and as a result easier enquires are responded to directly by CSC officers. Moreover we will be introducing a new performance indicator which will measure the percentage of planning enquiries responded with Service Level Agreement which will help us to understand any dips in performance and proactively address any areas of concerns.

Feedback from Stakeholders7.38 As an outcome of the customer survey an action plan based on the following themes was created:

Communication issues

Website/ Planning Portal enhancement;

A new pre-application advice service;

Addressing delays in processing planning applications

7.39 The council will provide more in-depth analysis of outcomes supported by evidence and data analysis in PPF6. Specifically

we have reviewed the full process of processing planning applications by using DMAIC approach (Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control).

We implemented new key performance Indicators which are linked to each step in the processes which will give us visibility of any drop in performance and enable us to be more proactive rather than reactive.

We are constantly working on our website together with the Web Team to make it more interactive for our customers

As part of a project plan our customers will be contacted around week 4 of the determination process to be advised on the progress with their application.


7.44 The council has a customer consultation shedule as follows

Customer Consultation Schedule

Customer Group Survey Method Frequency Responsible Officer Feedback Method

Development Planning Customers

Online and Newsletter

Annually, linked to development plan timetable.

Development Planning Manager

Development Plan

Applicants and agents – Development Management Focus group Bi-annually

Development Management Manager

Minutes and follow up meeting

Applicants and agents – Development Management Questionnaires Annually

Development Management Manager

Service Improvement Plan as part of the Planning Performance Framework

iii) GOVERNANCEEffective Management Structures7.45 The management structure of the Planning Services has been reviewed in order to achieve further budget savings.7.46 The councils Service Management Plan (Annex f ) sets out activity budgets and schedule actions for 2015/16.7.47 Staffing changes brought about by internal restructuring are now successfully being implemented. The Development Planning Manager’s post was vacated in December 2013 and a senior officer has now been appointed to that post in early 2015. The group is led by this new post called the Development Planning and Environment Manager.7.48 The restructuring of development management has led to two principal planner posts, each managing an area based team. A senior’s post continues to oversee householder developments and enforcement.7.49 Development Management have a regular weekly team meeting to discuss internal management issues, agenda setting, cases and professional development. Development Planning has reinstated its programme of monthly team meetings. Regular meetings are now held with Legal Services to review the status of planning obligations (Annex n)7.50 Staff development is seen as an integral part of the skilling of professional staff. All members of staff completed their Performance Review and Personnel Development plans by March 2016. These PRPDP’s embrace a review of the skills and abilities of each officer and specifically seek to identify training needs in the coming financial years. All staff are encouraged to ensure their own proper training both from the perspective of the PRPDP and the obligatory need for continuous professional development as a requirement of the Royal Town Planning Institute. In 2016-2017 the PRPDP process is being replaced by the council to the more comprehensive and detailed Assessment and Development Review approach (ADR).

Employee Engagement Schedule

Employee Group Engagement Method Frequency Responsible Officer

All employees One-to-ones Fortnightly / monthly

Service Managers (Development Management and Development Planning) and Team Leaders

All Employees Appraisal &

Development Review (ADR)

6 monthly Service Managers (Development Management and Development Planning) and Team Leaders

All employees Team meetings Weekly /

fortnightly / monthly

Service Managers (Development Management and Development Planning)

Employee sample Employee survey Annually Service Managers (Development Management and Development Planning)


iv) CULTURE OF CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT FOCUSSING ON IMPROVEMENTS AND CHANGES SINCE PPF4

7.51 Continuous improvement in Planning Services has been, and will continue to be underpinned by five over-arching thematic activities:

The council’s approach to continuous improvement

Planning: Planning Services follows a framework that identifies key strategic outcomes, the links to services and the activities and resources that will deliver them. Management information from performance and improvement processes will inform this process.

External Assessment: Planning Services is subject to external scrutiny, the recommendations of which will inform service planning and improvement.

Consultation and Engagement:

the Service engages customers, staff, partners and stakeholders to identify service improvements.

Self-Assessment: the Service undertakes self-assessment to identify service improvements and improve performance.

Performance Management:

the Service follows a framework for managing performance and this provides vital management information that is used in service planning and improvement and as evidence of impact in external and internal assessment

7.52 The comitment to continuous improvement is illustrated in the examples described below and in Annex m.Over the last year Planning Services has been using different ‘Lean’ tools and techniques ranging from value stream mapping, cross- functional processes, voice of customer analysis, action plans to brainstorming sessions to support changes to current processes and activities. Rapid improvement events have been used to allow a structured approach to process improvement to be implemented by evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery to help to reduce activities that do not add values and help remove unnecessary cost.We have started using a process improvement cycle and waste elimination cycle to support our service’s transformations. Development of new guidance on Collecting, Verifying and Reporting on Performance Information and more flexible support to refine the performance approaches adopted and the management of performance indicators led to an embedded and robust performance management approach throughout the service and this refined and rationalised the performance information.Regular training on performance management and the council’s performance management system (Covalent) increased officers’ confidence and capability with performance and also helped officers maximise the functionality of Covalent to reduce reporting and review activity.A scheduled programme of performance audits to assess the scope, accuracy and quality of performance information helped to improve accuracy of performance indicators and improve the quality of information that is made available to the public about performance.As an outcome of the hard work which all staff put into supporting the culture of continuous improvement and performance management we have been placed on a Cycle 1 – a three year cycle for our internal West Lothian Assessment Model Review Panel. This is the best possible outcome the service could have reached; we have been praised for the work and commitment carried out by the service and its staff.We are committed to continue on improving our service yet motivated to sustain process of continues improvement to achieve desirable results and high customer satisfaction.


7.52 West Lothian Council strives to provide our local community with excellent services, and we look for improved ways to plan, manage and deliver services in support of this aim.

7.53 The main activities of the service in 2016/17 will be:

Finalising the preparation of the local development plan, and its subsequent implementation.

Assisting in the preparation and delivery of Strategic Development Plan 2 for Edinburgh and South East Scotland.

Preparing, monitoring and reviewing supplementary planning guidance.

Processing planning and related applications.

Processing appeals and participating in local reviews against decisions on planning applications.

Enforcement of planning control.

Conservation and design of the built heritage.

Preparing school roll projections.

Progressing school consultations to support the development plan alongside appropriate school provisioning and capacity increases.

7.54 The delivery of a high-performing service that meet customers’ needs, but also recognises the challenges faced by services to balance customer-focused improvements and achieve value for money, are the core purposes of all improvement activities.

7.55 Continuous improvement has always been recognised by Planning Services as an ongoing managed process consisting of small and incremental planned stages. It is a journey involving all parts of the service. We aim to achieve organisational excellence and improve performance and at the same time sustain the results.

High hedges, Linlithgow


8 PART 3 Supporting evidence

Annex (a) Collaboration in pre of the local plan

(b) Planning for Nature

(c) Corporate working: 1000 houses project

(d) Benchmarking comments on PPF4

(e) Note on legacy cases and excel sheet

(f ) Management Plan 2015 /2016

(g) Design Improvements to householder applications

(h) Photos of Calderwood / Winchburgh Pond

(i) Easter Inch Moss

(j) WLAM

(k) WLAM Panel findings

(l) Website enhancements

(m) Road to continous improvement

(o) Position Statement: Housing Land

Harperrig


9 PART 4 Service improvements 2016-17

Delivery of our service improvement actions in 2015-16:

Completing consultation on the LDP Proposed Plan;

Complete: see Annex ‘A’

Continued revision of a planning obligations tracking system;

Ongoing: see Annex ‘N’

Continued disposal of legacy cases; Ongoing: see Annex E

Inter departmental team working on the delivery of 1000 social rented houses; Complete: see Annex ‘C’

Fauldhouse town centre charrette; Ongoing: Masterplan under development

Continued cooperation with Police Scotland on enforcement cases;

Ongoing collaborative inter agency working on Network Rail improvements at Shotts Line and Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme;

On site implementation: under way

Ongoing working to facilitate integrated waste management at Levenseat, Fauldhouse;

On site implementation under way

Continued community council planning training; Programme implemented

Completion of a distributor road at Drumshoreland financed through the local infrastructure fund; completed

Forging new working relationship with the new owners of the Heartlands regeneration scheme.

In the coming year, in addition to statutory requirements, we will:

Provide an integrated planning obligations tracking system to ensure payment, allocation and expenditure in accordance with registered planning obligations;

Investigate the provision of a computer based model to handle enforcement complaints;

Continue to work with Police Scotland to investigate contentious enforcement cases;

Monitor the impacts of transferring calls to the customer service centre;

Monitor the effects of withdrawing free pre application advice;

Undertake an analysis of LRB and appeal decisions;

Participate in asserting the implementation of the review of planning;

Investigate the use of fixed penalties in the context of planning enforcement.;

Continue the refinement of the council’s website to encourage channel shift

Develop and act upon the culture of continuous improvement as set out in PPF5

• Integrate the Rapid Improvement Event in daily functions of the development management service

• Address the incidence of complaints due to customers being unable to contact staff


10 PART 5 Official statisticsa) Decision-making timescales

category Total number of decisions 2014-2015

Average timescale (weeks)

2015-2016 2014-2015

major developments 12 67.1 48.2

Local developments (non-householder) 333 11.3 11.9

Local: less than two months 74.5% 6.6 6.6

Local: more than two months 25.5% 25.0 26.7

Householder developments 285 5.7 5



Housing developments

Major 5 115.5 41.5

Local housing developments 74 19.1 27.3



Business and industry

Major 1 14.4 13

Local business and industry 44 8.1 8.0



eIA developments 1 68.1 N/A

other consents* 151 5.8 7.1

Planning/legal agreements** 43 32.7 63.1

Major: average time 3 91.4 48.4

Local: average time 40 28.3 65.6

Local reviews 24 7.3 7

* Consents and certificates: Listed buildings and Conservation area consents, Control of Advertisement consents, Hazardous Substances consents, Established Use Certificates, certificates of lawfulness of existing use or development, notification on overhead electricity lines, notifications and directions under GPDO Parts 6 & & relating to agricultural and forestry development and applications for prior approval by Coal Authority or licensed operator under classes 60 & 62 of the GPDO.

** Legal obligations associated with a planning permission; concluded under section 75 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 or section 69 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973


b) Decision-making: local reviews and appeals

Type Total number of decisions

original decision upheld

2015-2016 2014-2015

No. % No. %

Local reviews 24 16 66.7 15 60

Appeals to Scottish Ministers 14 6 42.8 3 50

C: Enforcement activity

2015-2016 2014-2015

Cases taken up 223 137

Cases resolved 188 202

Notices served*** 49 20

Reports to Procurator Fiscal 0 0

Prosecutions 0 0

Context statement

As mentioned in the context of Part 1 above, major applications by their very nature can have a variety of complex issues which require resolution before a decision can be issued. These may relate to matters raised through the consultation process or by neighbours and often a legal obligation will be required which can take time to conclude or the application is required to be taken through committee processes.

For local applications, delays in the processing of planning applications can relate to the case officer waiting on amended plans, additional information requested through consultation processes such as noise or flood risk assessments, responses from external agencies such as Historic Scotland, the need to re-advertise amended proposals and negotiations to improve the quality of the development. Within West Lothian, there is the unique position that all residential properties of more than one bedroom in size requires to contribute towards the council’s education strategy. This inevitably results in delays on some applications where funds are being raised to be make payments under S69 or a planning obligation under a S75 agreement.

With regards to householder applications in particular, regardless of negotiations and the need for revised details, the council continues to perform well with an average period for decisions under six weeks.

With regards to the processing of applications at the Local Review Body, the fact that the LRB carries out site visits in advance of the meeting prior to the determination of an application means that delays are reduced and there is little need to carry over an application to the next meeting simply for a site visit. There has also been an improvement in the percentage of LRB decision in favour of the Appointed Person from 60% to 66.7% showing the in the main Members consider the original decision to be appropriate.


11 PART 6 Workforce and financial informationThe information requested in this section is an integral part of providing the context for the information in parts 1-5. Staffing information should be a snapshot of the position on 31 March. Financial information should relate to the full financial year.

Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3 Tier 4

Head of Planning Service 1Note: Tier 1= Chief Executive, Tier 2= Directors, Tier 3= Heads of Service, Tier 4= Managers

DM DP Enforcement Other

Managers No. Posts 1 1

Vacant 0 0

Main grade posts No. Posts 4 2.6 0

Vacant 0 1

Technician No. Posts 3.92 5.5 1

Vacant 0 0

Office Support/Clerical No. Posts 3 0

Vacant 0 0

TOTAL 11.92 10.1 1 0

Note: Managers are those staff responsible for the operational management of a team/division. They are not necessarily line managers.

Staff age profile Number

Under 30 3

30-39 6

40-49 7

50 and over 9

Total Budget Costs Income***

Direct* Indirect**

Development Management -493,499 453,159 200,081 -1,063,924

Development Planning 1,231,620 410,294 762,717 -51,484

Enforcement 23,545 20,244 0 0

Other 0 0 0 0

TOTAL 761, 667 883,697 962,798 -1,115,408

Notes:* Direct staff costs covers gross par (including overtime, national insurance and superannuation

contribution). The appropriate proportion of the direct cost of any staff member within the planning authority spending 30% of more of their time on planning should be included in costs, irrespective of what department they are allocated to (for example, legal advice, administration, typing). Exclude staff spending less that 30% of their time on planning.

** Indirect costs include all other costs attributable to the planning service. Examples (not exhaustive) include accommodation, IT, stationery, office equipment, telephone charges, printing, advertising, travel & subsistence, apportionment of support service costs.

*** Include fees from planning applications and deemed applications, and recharges for advertising costs etc. Exclude income from property and planning searches.

Committee and site visits* Number per year

Full council (Planning) meetings 4

Development Management committees 10

Area committees (where relevant) 0

Committee site visits 40

LRB** 10

LRB site visits 10

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